Grace Ford, MA, LMHC
Clinician
They/Them, She/Her

When we are safe enough, we can heal. This truth is at the center of my practice and is why I show up to sessions grounded in compassion and rooted in anti-oppression and liberatory practices. You deserve to be safe, seen and whole—both inside and outside of the therapy room.

To me, therapy is more than an hour a week. It’s the space between us that we co-create and carry with us. It’s the reflection and practicing you do outside of our session. It’s the curiosity and commitment of my own that I touch each time I think of you. It’s the courage to dig deep and explore ideas about what your identities mean to you, and what you most long for.

Regardless of the specific issues that catalyzes someone to seek therapy, the folks I work with are overwhelmingly caring, thoughtful, loyal, and concerned about the state of the world and their place within it. They are often highly sensitive; deeply creative; don’t fit the boxes society has constructed for them; and may carry a heavy load of personal, generational, or identity-based trauma. The communities and topics below are ones that I specifically bring curiosity, training and interest to:

  • LGBTQIA+ adults

  • Gender affirming care

  • Immigrant experiences, especially first generation

  • Gifted and highly sensitive

  • Disability and chronic illness

  • Therapy for therapists

  • Chronic pain

  • Trauma/EMDR

  • Activists and social justice-oriented healers

  • Older adults (65+ years old)

Education: I received my Masters of Counseling Psychology in 2018 from Meridian University in CA. I also completed Levels 1-5 of Gestalt and Psychosynthesis Counseling Training at the META-Center in Kristiansand, Norway in 2012. I received my Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR.

Background: Prior to joining Whole Valley therapy, I worked as a therapist in community mental health in the Skagit Valley, and focused on meeting the needs of LGBTQIA individuals as well as those with chronic pain. I have also served as a community organizer in Norway and Portland, OR.

Beyond Therapy: Outside of work, I am often finding ways to move my body that bring me joy. I seek out nature whether it be the trees in my back yard or backpacking in the Cascades. Other days, I may be absorbed in a book feeding my curiosity or listening to a podcast in Norwegian. As an activist at my roots, I engage with others in cultivating cultures of belonging, integrity, abundance and joy in order to support our collective liberation.

Credential: LH61146944